A man caught a nightingale and wanted to eat it. The nightingale said, "If I give you three pieces of advice, will you let me go?" "All right," said the man. "First, don't try eating that which is not fit to eat. Second, don't yearn for that which you have lost and cannot get back. Third, don't believe impossible things." The man liked the advice and let the nightingale go.

The nightingale then bolted straight up and said, "What a fool you are for letting me go! If only you knew, how tasty I am. Also, there is a large pearl inside of me. If you had killed me and taken the pearl, you would have gotten rich."

The man ran after the nightingale trying to catch it again, but the nightingale flew away from him. When the man ran out of breath, the nightingale said,

"You forgot my advice as soon as you heard it. First, you tried to eat a nightingale, a bird that is only fit to eat for stray cats, not people. Second, you lost me and could not get me back, but you still yearned for me. Third, how can a small bird like me have a large pearl inside? It is impossible, but you believed it."

Having said that, the nightingale flew away.

The Magic Purse

A Ukrainian tale

There was once a poor man. One evening he shut his eyes and sighed, "Why am I so poor? Why is my lot so hard?"

Just then, a faint voice sounded in his ear. "Open your eyes. There is a magic purse in front of you with a gold coin inside. If you take it out, another will appear, and another, and another. You can take out as many coins as you want. Remember, however: before you spend or give away any of them, you must throw the purse into a river. If you don't, the gold will disappear as soon as you try to spend it or give it away."

The man opened his eyes and, indeed, there was a purse in front of him. He put his hand inside, felt a coin and took it out. He put his hand inside again, and there was another coin there, and he took it out, too. The man spent two nights and two days taking the coins out. By the end of the second day he was very hungry, and was about to go into town to throw the purse into a river and buy some food at the tavern with the gold. However, the thought that he would have no more of the gold from the magic purse frightened him and made him overcome his hunger.

The man starved to death a week later amid piles of gold. As soon as he died, the gold and the magic purse disappeared as though they had never been there.